Friday, August 18, 2017

Ivanka Trump’s Clothing Factory Workers in China Get Low Pay for Long Hours

Ivanka Trump is being scrutinized because the workers at a China company that creates her fashion line are working close to 60-hour work weeks and only taking home $62 a week. This information was made public on Monday through a factory audit.

The factory employs 80 workers that knit clothes for G-III Apparel Group, which holds an exclusive contract to create Ivanka Trump’s brand clothes. The company has held the contract since 2012. The company also creates fashions for Tommy Hilfiger, reports The Washington Post.

The audit report did not give the name of the factory that creates Trump’s fashion line nor its location. Inspectors from an industry monitoring group discovered two dozen violations of the international labor standards in October during a two-day tour. The reports stated that the workers “faced daunting hours,” as well as a high turnover and pay at and below China’s minimum wage.

These type of working conditions and substandard pay are what have helped Ivanka Trump’s fashion line become a multimillion-dollar business. The audit’s release comes just as Trump has attempted to shape her image as a woman who is a champion of the workplace. She has also pushed her father’s “buy American hire American.”

After moving into an office at the White House as an advisor to her father, she has stepped down from her management role; however, she retains the ownership interest in the clothing line. Trump’s assets in the clothing brand have been put into a trust that is overseen by her husband’s sibling. The trust is valued at $50 million and Ivanka Trump is the only beneficiary, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Ivanka Trump’s business is licensed by her father’s company

Ivanka Trump’s clothing line is licensed by a confidential business owned by Donald Trump. Just last week, Trump signed an executive order that pushes the government to promote and use American-made goods.

Inspectors found that workers at the China plant are required to work 57 plus hours weekly to hit production targets, In China, the limit for overtime is set at 36 hours each month. Records show that workers were working up to 82 hours a week between September of 2015 and August of 2016, reports Allure.

Average manufacturing employees in China make twice the money that the clothing line factory workers do and they work far fewer hours. Workers at the clothing making factory are only given five days leave per year. Ivanka Trump has not commented on the deplorable wage paid to Chinese workers or the safety violations that we discovered.

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Tammy is a mother, author, freelance writer, environmental, human rights and social justice activist. She lives among the beautiful Appalachian Mountains in wild and wonderful West Virginia. She lives her life outside the box and colors outside the lines. She believes life is too short to settle for ordinary.